Home » Blogs » Michigan Cops to Man with Walking Stick: Stay Away from School During School Hours

Michigan Cops to Man with Walking Stick: Stay Away from School During School Hours

Robert Farago - comments No comments

“A student reporting a man with what appeared to be a rifle Wednesday morning outside Carter Middle School in Clio led officials to place the building on lockdown,” mlive.com reports. “School officials placed a call to Genesee County 911 and multiple jurisdictions responded to the area, according to a statement by middle school principal Neil Bedell.” And they’re not apologizing, either . . .

“Since we always err to the side of caution, we immediately went into a lockdown,” said Bedell, adding police found the person on a street north of the middle school and determined he was not a threat . . .

The school was taken off lockdown a short time later. Bedell commended students and staff for their “appropriate response” to the lockdown, given it was during one of the building’s lunch periods . . .

“Student safety is our number one priority,” he said. “We will always take such matters seriously and take all appropriate necessary measures to keep our children safe.”

Yes, well, the man in question was carrying a walking stick.

How he was carrying his walking stick is an open question. Was he shouldering it? Aiming it at the school like a rifle? I kinda doubt it.

Regardless, the local cops weren’t too happy about having their lunch hour interrupted by the prospect of a school shooter.

Bedell noted the man was advised by police of what the student “perceived” and was asked not to walk “in such close proximity of the building during school hours.”

Maybe they should run a firearms identification class at the school. Just sayin’ . . .

Photo of author

Robert Farago

Robert Farago is the former publisher of The Truth About Guns (TTAG). He started the site to explore the ethics, morality, business, politics, culture, technology, practice, strategy, dangers and fun of guns.

0 thoughts on “Michigan Cops to Man with Walking Stick: Stay Away from School During School Hours”

  1. ‘Bedell commended students and staff for their “appropriate response” to the lockdown, given it was during one of the building’s lunch periods . . .’

    Good sheep, I say very good sheep, even while given their mealtime, the sheep still follow directions.

    ‘ “Student safety is our number one priority,” he said. “We will always take such matters seriously and take all appropriate necessary measures to keep our children safe.” ‘

    Now I’m getting confused; is it Student safety (sheep safety), safety for the chillins (almost in the same breathe) or officer safety because they have to go home at night? Somebody please help me understand.

    Reply
  2. Of course the cops blamed the innocent citizen. I would bet a new Weatherby that the cops “asked” for (aka demanded) the citizen’s ID within 15 seconds of encountering him. The citizen was thus required to prove he was innocent. Then the cops wrote a report, which went to some Federal computer center, which will means the innocent citizen is on a watch list. We live in a police state and the police are eager to enforce papers-please prove-you’re-innocent mandate. Sad.

    Reply
  3. “We keep Little Red Riding Hood out of schools because of the bottle of wine in her basket.”

    No, you keep that book out of schools because you’re control freak, helicopter parents with no sense of proportion. The rest of us would like to lead normal lives and raise normal kids.

    Reply
  4. well first let’s do a realistic risk assessment of both items. Little Red Riding Hood- Book, kinda heavy, might fall onto child will hurt a little bit, common in most libraries. AR15, rifle, semiautomatic, dangerous if handled incorrectly, can be had by most Americans good or bad not too common in schools.

    Really unless your school is an important statement piece (definition to follow later) for a mass shooter it probably isn’t a target. So you have nothing to fear from the gun, those books however can fall on you, be used to beat you, be thrown at you, or be set on fire so if anything we really should move to digital format for all reading materials.

    Statement Piece- AKA Target. Mass Shooters pick their targets to make a statement through the carnage they inflict or the victims they target examples include Columbine High School, Emanuel AME Church, Burnette Chapel Church of Christ, Pulse Night Club, and others. Though motives vary all shooters were looking to make a statement of some sort be it they were sick of being bullied or that they believe a certain sexual orientation should not be allowed there is a statement made by the shooter’s choice of target and victims.

    Reply
  5. Have the kids switch places in the picture. Now see the reaction with a black child holding a gun and the white child holding a book. (Smile)

    Reply
    • Last time, it wasn’t a clean repeal but, rather, an increase in the limit from 15 to 30. The position Ole Dudley took was that this was insufficient (even though it would have allowed the vast majority of standard capacity mags to be, once again, legally available). His position was that only a complete repeal was acceptable.

      The phrase, “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”, comes to mind.

      Reply
  6. What could you do — aside from joining a group dedicated to disarming Americans — to tackle “gun violence”?

    First, raise your own children with discipline, patience, and a huge amount of love. Teach them wisdom, right from wrong, and a good work ethic. Finally, instill respect of life, liberty, and property.

    Second, mentor other children whose parents are failing to raise their children as stated above.

    Third, learn what is good for society and demand public policy that is good for society.

    Reply
    • “First, raise your own children with discipline, patience, and a huge amount of love. Teach them wisdom, right from wrong, and a good work ethic. Finally, instill respect of life, liberty, and property.”

      No thanks, that sounds like a lot of work.

      Reply
  7. “all the studies show even trained police officers in crisis situations have difficulty hitting their targets…”

    First of all, I have to wonder where this gentleman has time to read “all the studies.”

    Second, assuming he’s right, what does that imply? Do we tell police to stay out of crisis situations? No… because in a crisis, even imperfect solutions are better than the alternative.

    The alternative here is a gunman in a church murdering everyone until he runs out of ammo. I guess this guy wants that?

    Reply
  8. Well, the first problem is believing the media report about this incident. The media does not let facts get in the way of a good story.

    Who should be in trouble? Who ever reported the man with a gun, if it was student, he can’t tell a stick from a firearm? Blame the parents. I do not blame the police, they can’t win either way.

    Reply
  9. Whichever idiot (or gathering of idiots is a “Buncha”, as in, “Y’all ain’t nuthin’ but a buncha idiots”. A group of fools is called a “Dayem”, as in yew Dayem Fools!) banned little Red Riding hood because of a mention of wine in the basket, need to have a multitude of long talks with a psychiatrist (or a long walk on a short pier).
    There are a thousand different versions, over 50 in print, and many of them don’t mention wine. So if they are banning LRRH due to the wine, how many logical and rational reasons could they come up with for banning firearms?
    Einstein did say the universe is infinite, right?

    Reply
  10. Well bless her heart, totally forgot the anniversary.
    Was busy cleaning my handguns, after fixing biscuits and gravy for husband and me

    Reply
  11. I carry a knife and pepper spray on the infrequent occasion when we visit a bar. Firearms are banned in Texas bars, but I do want to have some kind of legal weapon.

    Understand, when I say “bar”, we’re talking a local, after work, happy hour type place or a wine bar in the uptown Galleria area. We’re not talking about some unlicensed dive down by the docks. So I don’t actually expect to have to use a weapon. If I did, we wouldn’t go there in the first place. Still, anything can happen any time, any place, though, so you want to have something more than nothing, just in case.

    I’ve never stabbed anyone before, but a few times in my youth I did have to deploy a knife to defend myself. It served its purpose and either scared them away or allowed me to get away.

    Reply
  12. The version of this story I heard yesterday was the guy let his dog outside for the dog do his dog business after the dog was whining by the door to go out.

    As soon as the dog got outside, the dog noticed the bear, yelped in fright, and hauled-ass back *inside* leaving the guy alone in the doorway to face the bear. The bear then swiped at the guy.

    When I read that, my first thought was “Man’s best friend, my ass. That dude needs to get a better, non-chicken-shit dog…”

    Reply
  13. “What could you do — aside from joining a group dedicated to disarming Americans — to tackle “gun violence?”

    Move out of Chicago, Baltimore, Compton, Camden, or any other Democrat sh!th0le you happen to live in.

    Reply
  14. The cops are discriminating against this disabled person in violation of the ADA. If a African-American person triggered a lockdown would Michigan cops say no African-Americans allowed during school hours? It is just as illegal to disriminate against disabled as it is to discriminate against an African-American

    Reply
  15. Africa huh?!? Currently watching “Trophy” on CNN( at least until Last Man on Earth comes on). Amazingly even handed about trophy hunting SO FAR…I’m sure it’ll devolve into bunny hugging and anti-gun BS rhetoric. Really reporting on Taylor Swift and guns? C’mon????????????

    Reply
  16. If it’s a bad situation I don’t care if I have a shovel a knife, a fork, a wiffle ball bat. Someone’s gonna get it of it means survival

    Reply
  17. Recently purchases NRA Carry Guard. It looks like it is insurance backed by a big name insurance company. I had problems figuring out if some of the others were insurance or some sort of fund where the gun owner is not the direct insured party. Now I have a year to research to figure it out in case I want to switch.

    Reply
  18. I love my XDS .45 Bi-Tone. It is everything I hoped a small .45 would be. It is thin, light, small, accurate, easy to shoot, reliable, and has a stainless slide. It has never let me down, never malfunctioned, and I would trust it with my life any day.

    But I will never buy another Springfield Armory product. Traitorous bastards.

    Reply
  19. I don’t know how it is around other areas, but here, verizon charges per device.
    So anything that uses cell data has to have a “smart phone” plan which is basically $170 a month.

    Reply
  20. Anyone who thinks the Civil War ended in 1865 has NOT read this book!

    Remember US Supreme Court Judge Taney in the Dred Scott case held (Missouri) slaves were not citizens, because if they were, they could keep and bear arms (that means own and carry guns without government (your master’s) permission for those of you in coastal states).

    Reply
  21. Well that’s an interesting post. My wonderful mother-in-law and my wife both had and have revolvers. My wife’s mother was a minister on the Westside of Chicago. She never bought into that leftard BS about being disarmed. Neither does my gorgeous brown wife…carry on.

    Reply
  22. I have a 20SF (same frame in 10mm). That is fine but echo some of the comments about the 21SF. However, my 21 is a Gen4 and it is a DREAM to shoot. I shoot that better than any of my other Glocks. The grip without additional backstraps seems a bit smaller than the SF and the double recoil spring seems to do the trick. Highly recommend you try.

    Reply
  23. “How is any bill that purposefully restricts rights of Nebraskans to regulate what they wish to regulate a good thing?”

    It’s a good thing because a little tin god like you shouldn’t get to make that choice.

    Just like I don’t get to regulate your stupid speech. Got it, Kimmy?

    Reply
  24. A little hunting story to lighten the mood.

    Waaaaay back in the 80s my uncle had a farm in rural Missouri. Nearest neighbor was Jimmy about 1/2 mile down the dirt road. One year my uncle, Jimmy, and some of the other guys went deer hunting in Jimmy’s van. The plan was to run down the road and if they saw a deer they would open the sliding door on the van and shoot the deer. So off they go, with multiple bottles of whiskey in hand. I think you can see where this one is going.

    Several hours later they come home, drunker than a sailor on liberty, whooping and hollering about how they got the biggest deer they’d ever seen, except it ran off after they shot it and they couldn’t find it. They ran out of energy shortly after that and didn’t try to go find the deer because it was dark out.

    Next day Jimmy is over at my uncle’s house saying one of his cows was missing and there was a hole in his fence and tire tracks all over his field.

    I was so glad I didn’t go hunting with them.

    Reply

Leave a Comment